For awhile, Thursdays will provide a Because of Grace Wholehearted Living Story

In 1885, Clinton Thomas Dent, president of the Alpine Club, suggested that climbing Mount Everest was possible in his book Above the Snow Line. On 31 May 2005 Rex Pemberton, at age 21 became the youngest Australian to climb Mt. Everest. Rex’s love of challenging heights began early. By the age of 10 Rex wanted to climb every hill and mountain he could find, by 16 hewas on an expedition to Bolivia and Peru where he climbed 6,025-meter Mt. Huclca Huclca.

Before he could even step foot on Everest, Rex had to overcome the financial challenge of raising in excess of $100,000 from cynical sponsors. He also had to find a climbing team he could trust in such a demanding environment. His sister Caroline, a future Miss Austrailia wrote some of his climbing updates from basecamp.

The effect on the human body in a hostile, high-altitude environment has been described by Rex as ‘taking one breath feels like you are running back-to-back marathons and then swimming 50m pool lengths.’ But, as Rex said,